Monthly Archives: March 2013

There’s no Sunday Post/ Weekly Wrap Up today because, quite bluntly, I can’t be bothered. It’s Sunday (obviously), it’s sunny and I want to sit around and read instead of staring at a computer screen for hours. I have another post to wrote after this and then spend hours on Twitter. You can view my February Reads and March TBR << there. Compare and see how many book I read that were on my TBR.

Books Read in March:

I read 20 books this month! Yes yes yes! I think it’s the most I’ve read in a single month ever! So yes, I am completly showing off. It’s allowed, right?

When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.

Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.

Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.

Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?

From popular young adult author Jessica Brody comes a compelling and suspenseful new sci-fi series, set in a world where science knows no boundaries, memories are manipulated, and true love can never be forgotten.

My Rating:

5 out of 5

My Review:

This book had EVERYTHING in it! I just can’t tell you what EVERYTHING means because I want YOU to be as surprised by this book as I was.

And that’s the end of the review boys and girls!

Joke. Let’s talk about characters.

I’m going to call the main girl S for my review. I want you to find out her name on your own. (Are these enough hints for you to read the book? Don’t worry, there will be more.) She was difficult to form a personality about. For half of the book, she didn’t know who she was, what she liked, what she didn’t, most words that we use on an everyday basis she didn’t understand. S was found floating in the water, seemingly from a plane crash. She was then taken to a hospital and people where trying to find out more about her.

Towards the end of the book, S really had begun to turn into a feisty, strong willed character.

There was a boy in this book. A boy that S knew. Lyzender. (No, I didn’t just sneeze.) He was very distrustful, I suppose that happens when a girl he knew and obviously has feelings for, can’t remember who he is or the things they’ve done.

I liked Cody. He was S’s foster brother. He had to show S how to use the internet and he helped steal a car for her. May I add that he’s thirteen and a math whiz. So cute! When he was first introduced, I thought he was going to be a typical kid who doesn’t want some foster girl coming in and spending time with his parents ** jealously** (Thanks Will Young.) But he played a bigger role and helped S out.

The mystery inside this book is intense. I was about halfway through and still didn’t know exactly what was going on. And it wasn’t that Brody was being stingy with her writing, she was sinking her literal pen deep under your skin and hooking you into her world of Unremembered. It sounds more painful than it really is.

After finishing this book, I was disappointed by how small it was. It was barely 300 pages of actual story. Nevertheless, I thought that Unremembered would have made a great stand-alone novel. One helluva cliff-hanger though! But I kinda like that 🙂 I might not read the other two books because it might spoil the rest of the story for me.

Here is the awesome trailer for Unremembered! (The music sounds a bit like Titanic. It had me tearing up! And all the water…nooo!)

Jessica Brody knew from a young age that she wanted to be a writer. She started self “publishing” her own books when she was seven years old, binding the pages together with cardboard, wallpaper samples and electrical tape.

Five Facts about Jessica. Read more at her Goodreadspage!

1. She loves bananas but hates anything banana flavored.

2. She’s squemish about bones and belly buttons.

3. She’s always secretly wanted to be a member of the Spice Girls.

4. She doesn’t like it when vegetables try to pass themselves off as dessert. (“Carrot Cake? Seriously? You’re not fooling anyone!”)

5. The first book she learned to read was Go Dog Go at age 2, although technically she probably just memorized it.

Thanks for reading my review! Have you read Unremembered? What did you think of it?

Update on last week, I lost my purse and inside it my library card. You can imagine my annoyance! Well, anyway, it turned out I’d left it at a friends house and there it was. So, (yes, there is more to this story.) I trundled off into town with my heavy books on FRIDAY. FRIDAY WAS A HOLIDAY! EVERYWHERE WAS SHUT! Therefore, I couldn’t get rid of my books and i had to drag them home again. I now have an 18pence fine. I know. I’m so reckless.And so i haven’t been to the library this week even though I have some AWESOME books there that I was suprised the library actually held.

Thanks for reading this rubbish bit, now you can look at the stack of books i got this week!

I have so many books to review it is mental. I keep double booking and I send out emails to correct the dates but no-one gets back to me and I AM STRESSING OUT! I haven’t been touring long so I’m sure I’ll get used to it!

Thanks for reading! Don’t foget to leave your links below and tell me what you got this week!

Kira Walker has found the cure for RM, but the battle for the survival of humans and Partials is just beginning. Kira has left East Meadow in a desperate search for clues to who she is. That the Partials themselves hold the cure for RM in their blood cannot be a coincidence–it must be part of a larger plan, a plan that involves Kira, a plan that could save both races. Her companions are Afa Demoux, an unhinged drifter and former employee of ParaGen, and Samm and Heron, the Partials who betrayed her and saved her life, the only ones who know her secret. But can she trust them?

Meanwhile, back on Long Island, what’s left of humanity is gearing up for war with the Partials, and Marcus knows his only hope is to delay them until Kira returns. But Kira’s journey will take her deep into the overgrown wasteland of postapocalyptic America, and Kira and Marcus both will discover that their greatest enemy may be one they didn’t even know existed.

My Rating:

2 out of 5

My Review:

Fragments opens with Kira finding out more about her being a partial. Partials are basically androids, and where created to win wars instead of sending out humans. But Partials started to become more and more human. They are different from humans though, they connect through a Link and they are all made to have certain jobs. Older men are generals, petite girls fit into small cockpits, ect, ect.

There was a quote from the book that I liked, describing the Partials, so I’ll leave it here.

“It wasn’t that they didn’t have emotions, it was that they weren’t accustomed to expressing them verbally.”

I found that the first 30% was very boring. It got better once Afa was introduced, but only just. If someone hadn’t read the first book they would have had no idea of what was going on. People where mentioned, but then no back story was given, assuming that the first book had been read.

Kira had barely any personality through the book, and I didn’t connect with her at all.

I did enjoy the hyper intelligent dogs though. Really creepy and added a level of entertainment that wasn’t there for the rest of the book.

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials–engineered organic beings identical to humans–has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what’s left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she’s not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them–connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

Dan Wells is a thriller and science fiction writer. Born in Utah, he spent his early years reading and writing. He is he author of the Partials series (Partials, with the second book coming early 2013) and John Cleaver series (I Am Not a Serial Killer, Mr. Monster, and I Don’t Want To Kill You). He has been nominated for both the Hugo and the Campbell Award, and has won two Parsec Awards for his podcast Writing Excuses. His newest novel, The Hollow City, was released in July.

Be prepared to immerse your self in a world where falling in love could cost you your life and nothing is as it seems.

Innovera Yakov – The Journey of A Thousand Eyes is the first installment in an action-packed fantasy drama where characters with powers of healing and destruction live, love, compete and disappear without a trace while they are being prepared for the Journey.

What is the Journey? What happens to the ones who do not return? What unspeakable, stomach-

churning things can happen to them there?

Even Ayana the Great Healer, Krave ‘The Golden One’ and the powerful Blu Tara are terrified of it.

GIVEAWAY:

This blog is giveing away one (1) Kindle copy of Innovera Yakov: The Journey of A Thousand Eyes. Open internationally. To enter all you have to do is COMMENT! And leave your email address as that’s how I’ll contact you if you win! Will you pick this book up? Add it to goodreads? Sign up for the tour?

Interview with Kia:

1: Why should we read your book?

Apart from being an action-packed, romantic adventure, Innovera Yakov: The Journey of A Thousand Eyes is a story about the power of love and loyalty. It is about the desire to become stronger, better beings, and the need to accept yourself and to embrace your strengths and talents in order to make the most of the gift of life. It is what most readers talk to me about when they’ve finished reading it. Some of them have even thanked me.

I think there is something for everyone in the novel: adventure, romance and valuable life-lessons.

2: What was your favourite chapter or part to write?

Visualising the world my characters live in. I love mind-mapping that world and thinking of the possible dangers of falling in love in that world, including the terrible jealousies and rivalries that threaten to destroy the ones involved.

3: Do you have anypre-writing rituals to help you prepare for writing different scenes and getting into a character’s mind.

I always write after midnight – around 2 or 3 am – when it is very quiet outside and I imagine that everyone else is asleep. My impulse to write and dream up worlds comes alive around that time.

4: What is next for your writing?

I am working on the second book in the series and I already have ideas for the third and fourth novel.

5: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

Follow your dreams. Work for what you want and even in the depths of despair or fading confidence never give up. It is important to believe in yourself because not everyone is going to believe in you. Embrace your gifts. Learn what they are and use them for good. Cherish what you are and don’t let go of that.

Kia Garriques studied writing and English literature at University and has been a published short story writer since 2009. Her first story “The Invisible Alien Watcher” was published by Micro Horror in 2009 and reprinted by Pill Hill Press in 2011. Innovera Yakov: The Journey of a Thousand Eyes – is her first novel in the ‘Worlds’ series and will be out on amazon mid February. visit www.kiagarriques.com/books to read the first chapter.

On Cara Weaver’s first day at her new high school—merely the next in a long line of new schools—she meets two senior boys: James Sable and Crispin Calaway. They’re new too; they’ve been at the school just longer than she has, and they’ve never made an effort to reach out to anyone. Until she comes. When her friends find out, they’re awed. But Cara can’t shake the feeling that there’s more to James and Crispin than the two are telling.

As the days go on, everything at her new home seems to be going better than it has in any of the previous cities she’s lived in. She loves her friends, gets a job at a bookstore, and even starts to spend more time with Crispin and James. She’s happy. But all that begins to change when she comes to realize that the two boys she’s becoming close to are hiding something. It’s then that she knows her unexplainable wariness of them has been justified all along. But she keeps it a secret.

Days later, when a stranger accosts her outside a small shopping center, Crispin and James arrive just in time to help her. But they seem know the attacker. And instead of running him off, Crispin and James take Cara away, for her own protection.

With little explanation, Cara is told that she’s important and that she can’t go home until the boys have sorted some things out. In the meantime, Cara’s world is being turned upside down as she finds out that there is more to her life than she possibly imagined.

My Review:

Rating: 3 0ut of 5

After the first couple of chapters, it did seem a little Twilightesque. Heroine walks into school on the first day and immediately she gets the sullen guy talking. Eh? All of the boys seemed to like her straight away. They must all have been in on some secret. All of the friends Cara made thought she was the BOMB. Getting friends back together, and talking to the most HOT boys in school.

I must admit that, I enjoyed the first part of the book more than the second. By the time they were in Lyria, things got cliché and sometimes didn’t quite add up.

Page 209 – James and Crispin have just had a mini battle, blood, guts, the lot, about five minutes ago. Now they’re rolling down hills and jumping through rivers.

They had been in Lyria for about five hours before Cara realised that she had left her little sister with no one at home. I thought that was strange because in the first half of the book, Cara had a very strong relationship with her sister and she was always first in her mind. Okay, granted, Cara had just been transported into a totally different world to the one she grew up on but, ‘Sisters before other worlds…’

Moving swiftly on.

At the beginning of this book, I was sure that Crispin and Cara were going to get together…I won’t tell you want happened, you’ll just have to read the book! Although,

I agree with James, Cara was overly dramatic.

The action took a while to get going. There was a lot of talk about the opposing clan and meetings about if they could trust Cara, which weren’t that interesting, but they never actually fought. (Agreed there was action but had the potential to be more.)

Overall:

Rising Calm contained a dash of Harry Potter with a smidge of Narnia. It was a very enjoyable read, even though I did have some issues with it. I hope that the second book is better (In my opinion!) because these book have so much potential 🙂

~Giveaway~

Five Copies of Rising Calm to win.

US/Canada have choice of ebook or paprerback. International winners will recieve an ebook.

Reading. I have always been an avid reader, and as I got into middle school and high school, as I read more, more stories started to form in my head. It could have been a quote or a scene or a character I read about, but I would find that when something happened I would start thinking, “What if this happened instead?” From there came a bunch of vague ideas about story possibilities, and one day when I decided I actually wanted to start writing one of those ideas, actually shaping it into something more, a bunch of the ideas and characters and thoughts all came together into Rising Calm. No one thing inspired me to write it; just my love of reading and hearing and telling stories.

2- How often do you write?

Less often than I should! I try to do at least a little bit of writing every day, whether it’s tweaking already-written scenes to flow better, adding on to some chapter I haven’t yet finished, or furiously typing out an entirely new scene. Some days I have less time than others, and some days I’m less inspired, but I try to write something for about an hour every day.

3- Have you always enjoyed writing?

I’ve always been good at writing. I’ve liked writing stories as far back as fifth grade, and I’ve never had any trouble with essays and school work. But I never really considered how much I liked writing for fun until I was in high school. It always came pretty naturally, but suddenly it was something I found myself doing more and more. Even though I wasn’t always sure I could be a writer, I never found myself wishing I was doing anything other than writing.

4- Do you listen to music when you write? If so, what?

Of course! I listen to music all the time: cooking, cleaning, doing homework, working, and writing. But my musical tastes are all over the charts. I generally listen to indie/alternative rock types. Snow Patrol, The Script, Keane, fun. But a lot of what I’m listening to while I’m writing has to do with what scene I’m writing at the moment. Sometimes I’ll just hit a playlist on my iPod and let it run, but when I sit down with the intent of getting a certain scene right, the songs I choose change. “The Lightning Strike” by Snow Patrol is my favorite for intense/battle-type scenes because of the feeling I think it invokes. “Too Close” by Alex Clare when two characters who should aren’t getting along. “Eyes Wide Open” by Gotye when someone is feeling lost. “Demons” by Guster when a character is angry with themselves. “All the Same” by Sick Puppies when characters are determined to fix something that fell apart. Throw in some Celine Dion and for King and County for emotional scenes… I could go on and on and on.

5- How long did it take to write Rising Calm?

The first time I remember consciously making the decision to write was the summer before my senior year of high school. I’m a sophomore in college now. But all I did then was decide I really liked the story idea, and I had this ancient bulky laptop that I could type on. So I remember jotting down a couple notes and maybe a scene and just shaping the idea further. But I didn’t really start writing it until the next summer, when it became something I just couldn’t get off my mind. It started coming a little more together, until my freshman year of college started and suddenly I knew it wasn’t a story anymore, it was a book, and I had to keep writing. I had it finished by spring. So maybe about a year and a half was spent truly writing it?

6- What kind of books do you like to read?

I think I will forever be on a young adult kick. Since at least middle school, YA fiction and fantasy have been my go-to books. And they still are, especially now that the genre has really taken off. I do enjoy branching from that a little though—it can be refreshing. So some paranormal romance, too, a couple sci-fi books here and there, adult fiction. But I always come back to young adult fantasy, and now especially dystopian.

7- If Rising Calm was made into a film, who would you cast as the main characters?

This is a brilliant question, because I’m one of those fans who can never decide if they’re thrilled or horrified about books I love being turned into films. I expect Hollywood to be perfect if they’re going to dare undertake a story I love, and I keep up with casting almost religiously when I know they’re taking on a book I’ve read. I always like to think I could do it better, even though I know that’s probably not true. That being said, I put some thought into this question. And, based on looks and what I’ve seen of their acting, here’s what I think for my characters:

– With short brown hair, I think Chloë Grace Moretz could be an amazing Cara Weaver.

– Jake Abel for Crispin Calaway.

– And Gaspard Ulliel (though he’d probably have to be younger…) for James Sable.

8- Do you have any other exciting projects coming up?

Well right now my main project is Gathering Clouds, the second book in the Rising Calm series. I doubt I’ll have anything else out before that. But I’ve recently been working quite a bit on an idea for a dystopian book, and I’ve also been playing with the idea of a few shorts to go along with the Rising Calm series from different characters’ points of view. Personally, I’m excited about both of those!

9- Do you have any advice for aspiring authors out there?

My biggest piece of advice would be that I’m a twenty-year-old in Kansas. I have work and school and volunteering and homework and hobbies and a social life, and before all this I had pretty much no idea what I was doing. I’m still there, actually. So if I can do this, you can too. It’s huge and daunting and scary to let so many people into something that’s personal, even if you’re story isn’t directly about you. I haven’t encountered anything that’s much more intimidating than the writing and publishing industry. But I’m right where most aspiring authors are. I’ve been there. And I know I’m not the only good, story-telling hopeful out there. So keep writing, have other people read and edit, take advice, but more importantly, write something you love and that you’d want to read.

10- Would you like to say anything to your readers?

I have readers!! That’s the mindset I’m in right now! Mostly, I want to thank you all. I know that picking up a book by an unknown author is never too high on people’s list of things to do, because your favorite authors are probably churning out books faster than you can keep up (I’m with you there!). So thank you for being willing to pick up my book out of all the books out there, and thank you for reading it. I hope you enjoy it enough to read the rest!

I’m Haley Fisher, a college student in Kansas, and I’ve just signed a contract with a company called Silver Tongue Press to publish my first book!

For as long as I can remember I’ve been an avid reader and an aspiring writer, but the step toward actually getting a book published is an enormous one for me. This is a big deal. And, as I’ve been told, the next step to being successful is getting the word out that my book exists.

So, though it’s not in print yet—it’s coming out February 14th—I’d love for people to keep an eye out for Rising Calm. It’ll be the first in a series of books about a young girl who finds out her life and her fate are far bigger than she ever realized. At the risk of giving too much away, the most I can tell you for now is that there is magic, prophecy, new worlds, and a cast of characters who I love to write.

I’ll keep this updated as Rising Calm gets farther and farther along on the path to being published. Until then, I don’t have much else to say but thanks for reading!

Casper Whitley is forced to move to Charleston, South Carolina where she’ll be the new kid her senior year of high school. Casper’s upset about the move until she meets the Roman family’s gorgeous son, Cal, but there’s a problem. A mystery surrounds him which can be summed up in one word…Kythera. Never heard of it? Neither has Casper until she finds the word tattooed on cars, paintings and all her new friends.

After Casper’s life is threatened, someone is forced to tell the truth about her parents, the Romans and Kythera’s motives for her being in Charleston. Once the truth is revealed, she must decide whether to protect her family and Kythera’s secrets or walk away from everything she has ever known.

My Rating:

4 out of 5

My Review:

The one word that I would use to describe this book would be impressive. All the way though this book I was impressed. By the characters, the flow of the writing, the action, all of it!

Casper has moved from her home town, into Charleston. She had to leave behind her passion, horses. Her father wanted to move for “business reasons.” Casper and her family are very, very well off, but even though Casper has a lot of money that doesn’t make her a spoilt brat. Okay, she is spoilt but not a brat at least.

Her relationship with her mother is strained. Her mother likes Casper to dress certain ways and she always has to look perfect. Gag! But Casper is long-suffering and tries to please her mother.

During her time at Charleston, Casper meets a guy. Cal. They instantly connect and start to spend more time with each other. And for about a page, there’s a hint of a love triangle going on. But then things work out and it doesn’t go down that road.

Cal also has an ex-girlfriend, Veronica who added just the right amount of frustration. Man! She was so annoying! She’s one of the pathetic ex-girlfriends who hang around and act all feeble and argh!

By the end of the book, I really liked Casper. She was funny, she was bright, and wasn’t over the top and she was sucked into something that she never wanted to be a part of in the first place.

And last but not least, you know some books have stickers on the front that say things like, turn to page whatever so that you can get a feel for the story and hopefully buy it? Well, I would recommend turning to page 192.

That’s where the action starts. Nothing is revealed in that chapter so, it won’t spoil the story for you if you read it.

Very impressed, but I found typos toward the end of the book! Irritating but I won’t dwell on them 🙂 And also, this was a major flaw in the book, Casper is on Team Edward? Honey, no. Team JACOB! whoot! Haha! I liked the pop culture references 🙂

Looking forward to the next book! The Kings of Charleston was left open very nicely for a second book and I expect it to be good!

Kat has been a writer her entire life, but never pursued a writing career until the characters from a short story she wrote in high school refused to go away. Finally, she sat down and wrote their story which would became The Kings of Charleston series.Kat has been an avid reader her entire life. She enjoys all genres, but particularly Mystery and Young Adult. Mary Higgins Clark is one of her favorite authors who inspired her love of mysteries.

When she isn’t writing, Kat loves to travel, try out new recipes and hang out with her husband. She is originally from Kentucky, but currently resides in South Georgia with her husband, a cat named Frank and a dog named Lil.